My New Dwarf Puffer

[lilacamy931]

Hey hon really sorry to hear he passed on He didnt have a good starting point from the store so perhaps his immunity was low and stress levels high. Do give them another go as you know they are fab little creatures. When you go this time see if there is one with a good belly and perhaps ask for them to be fed in front of you so you can rule out feeding problems from the start? xx

 

[razer121]

Hey hon really sorry to hear he passed on He didnt have a good starting point from the store so perhaps his immunity was low and stress levels high. Do give them another go as you know they are fab little creatures. When you go this time see if there is one with a good belly and perhaps ask for them to be fed in front of you so you can rule out feeding problems from the start? xx

this is a good idea, although nearly every fish ive had from my local P at H has died i have a ballon molly from there mind, i want to get anouther puffer but this time i think im going to source him elsewhere

 

[Heiko Bleher]

Hey hon really sorry to hear he passed on He didnt have a good starting point from the store so perhaps his immunity was low and stress levels high. Do give them another go as you know they are fab little creatures. When you go this time see if there is one with a good belly and perhaps ask for them to be fed in front of you so you can rule out feeding problems from the start? xx

this is a good idea, although nearly every fish ive had from my local P at H has died i have a ballon molly from there mind, i want to get anouther puffer but this time i think im going to source him elsewhere

Hi,

my name is Heiko Bleher and I just saw this thread (and to late, but was in NYC - see my website).

In any case some short info on your past tiny puffer: The species is Carinotetradodon imitator and it is together with the other similar looking minature freshwater puffer, also from the Western Ghats (Kerala), C. travancoricus, the smallest on earth. Unfortunately you were wrongly informed, as it should have been fed at least 4-6 times every day and live food, like Daphnia, Cyclops, mosquitoe larva, live bloodworms, etc. Also life Artemia would have helped. And they would have eaten small life snails as well. But definitely had to be fed several times daily, as on the first picture one can see it was already starving...

Anyhow, remeber it for the future, those should be available again, they are plenty in southwestern India (I had everytime hundreds in one netting), and they export them frequantly. Just take my advice for the next time. Later, once it is well acclimatized, they will also take frozen and dry feeds.

Best regards from a collector, and writer, explorer and much more, but mainly a fish-man,

Heiko Bleher
www.aquapress-bleher.com

 

[razer121]

are you sure about that? google tells me this little guy is a dwarf puffer? i dont want to overfeed my next lil guy and kill him.....

 

[Truck]

Heiko knows what he's on about, he's found and described loads of the species we keep in our tanks!

 

[iSnail]

@razer121
Awww.... so sorry to hear you lost your little puff It's extra sad since you've tried so hard to nurse him/her back to health all this time. Do give them another go though. Make sure you pick one that is plump. They all have their own personalities so you never know

@Heiko
Hello and welcome. Thank you for your input on feeding these little puffers. One thing if I may ask is how do you differentiate between C. imitator and C. travancoricus? From OP's pictures, I would easily assume it's a C. travancoricus. I'm just curious to know. Thanks

 

[jennybugs]

Heiko knows what he's on about, he's found and described loads of the species we keep in our tanks!

No disrespect meant here if this is the real Heiko Bleher signed up, but anyone could sign up to a forum under Mr bleher's name and say they are he.
I am sure that the real Heiko does know what he is talking about, such is his experience and knowledge, but I know that with my own dwarf puffers that I keep that if I fed them more than I do they would be seriously overfed and fat.
My puffers maintain a healthy size and shape being fed once a day in captivity. IF they still looked to be starving and malnourished then I would feed them more frequently, thus I don't believe my advice about feeding in captivity that I give to fellow new dwarf puffer keepers to be incorrect

I too would be most interested to know how to differentiate between the two puffers. I was told one of my overtly wrinkled males was C imitator and not the travancoricus it was sold as so it is of interest to me too

 

[razer121]

who is Heiko Bleher? im going to guess he is more then just a forum member or soemthing?

ok but still anyway i want to get anouther guy, but does anyone know if any guys on here sell them? id prefer one that has been looked after

 

[soph_betta]

ok but still anyway i want to get anouther guy, but does anyone know if any guys on here sell them? id prefer one that has been looked after

I dont know if anyone on here sells them but if you are but if you are anywhere near south wales Tsunami Aquatics is excellent they ordererd mine in for me and made sure they were eating a mix of live and frozen food and were healthy before I could take them. I also reserved 2 packs of live blood worm for them so it was all ready to go when i picked up.
If you are not near-by why not go in to your local private fish supplier and speak to them I know they might be a bit more expencive that your local anything and everything store but at least you know you are getting a quality fish IMPO

 

[jennybugs]

who is Heiko Bleher? im going to guess he is more then just a forum member or soemthing?

Heiko Bleher
I don't know if that forum member who replied to your thread is the real Mr Bleher or not, and I apologise if it is the learned man himself as no insult is intended, but he really knows his onions.

I'd still like to know how he recommends distinguishing between the two types of dwarf puffer if it is he himself replying on here

 

[iSnail]

ok but still anyway i want to get anouther guy, but does anyone know if any guys on here sell them? id prefer one that has been looked after

Where are you based?

 

[razer121]

I dont know if anyone on here sells them but if you are but if you are anywhere near south wales Tsunami Aquatics is excellent they ordererd mine in for me and made sure they were eating a mix of live and frozen food and were healthy before I could take them. I also reserved 2 packs of live blood worm for them so it was all ready to go when i picked up.
If you are not near-by why not go in to your local private fish supplier and speak to them I know they might be a bit more expencive that your local anything and everything store but at least you know you are getting a quality fish IMPO

ive thought about it but last time i did that they charged me £3.50 for 1 molly! i cannot think of how much they may decide to charge for the puffer

Heiko Bleher
I don't know if that forum member who replied to your thread is the real Mr Bleher or not, and I apologise if it is the learned man himself as no insult is intended, but he really knows his onions.

I'd still like to know how he recommends distinguishing between the two types of dwarf puffer if it is he himself replying on here

ah thanks for that, i might see if he has a contact me button, then we will see if it is him.

Where are you based?

im based in banbury, rubbish place really

 

[iSnail]

im based in banbury, rubbish place really

Hmm.... too far from me Would love to rehome one of my summer babies with you. Sorry I can't help Good luck finding a nice and healthy puff though. Keep us updated

 

[razer121]

ah ok, are you not in the uk? im really looking into getting anouther puffer now, ive got the tank ready and setup again for him/her

 

[iSnail]

I'm in London. Have you any Maidenhead Aquatics near you? The one near me always has lots of them. Very cheap @£1.50 each too.